Leamington League Division 1 Winners and Runners-Up 2024 Leamington League Knock Out Cup Winners 2024 Leamington League U-8750 Cup Winners 2024 Leamington League U-1600 Cup Winners 2024 Runner-Up - ECF Website of the Year 2018
You can tell when spring is approaching. The air is a little less sharp. Glinting yellow daffodils cover the ground. And of course, as always, our annual battle to keep as many of our players eligible as possible, is inevitably lost. (Don't worry, I wasn't planning on going all Wordsworthesq on this blog!)
Still, eligibility challenges always create opportunities for others, and while the D team narrowly lost to the much higher rated Leamington B last night, it was a good effort all round.
Dan has been a revelation this season. He was conceding 300 points to Chris Ward on Board 2, but you would never have known this to watch. Dan set himself up well, and had a few early attacks on Chris's queen. All perfectly logical, developing moves, that should have been easily dealt with by Chris. It occurred to me that Chris had the potential to get his queen completely trapped. I barely had time to think "surely he won't," when this was replaced by the thought "Oh, he has." Chris could have resigned on the spot, but elected to play it out. Dan did everything right, playing very calmly and comfortably and the victory was inevitable. An impressive performance and 1-0 to us.
I didn't see much of Patrick's game, but unfortunately he was the next to finish on Board 3 with a loss, to make it 1-1. My game against Joshua Simpson on Board 1 was extremely interesting. There were a lot of middle game tactics, and I ended up with a rook and two vs bishop and four. With a few more pawns I'm sure it would have been a win for me, but as it was, Joshua's connected pawns were very tricky to deal with. We played to close to the wire, at which point it was clear I had a total blockade. Joshua couldn't make any progress, but neither could I. So a draw felt fair, and that made it 1.5 - 1.5.
Deema's game against Alex Kagkalis on Board 4 was highly entertaining. Frankly the time scramble could have gone either way, and there is some work to do on the LDCL rules concerning illegal moves which I will look to take forward. It was very messy. However, on the night, Alex just edged it at the death - but Deema had put up a brilliant effort. I could definitely see her playing chess on television!
So not quite our night, but Dan, Patrick and Deema are all growing as players - as we look to bring through our next generation of talent. Moreover, take a look at the other Division 2 results last night... They absolutely went the way the C team would have hoped. All of which makes Monday's C team game (by chance also against Leamington B) a really big one. The Division 2 promotion chase is well and truly back in our own hands...
Having used the word "pain," in successive Blog titles, I am delighted to be able to write a more cheering header today! We managed to win last night's U8750 semi-final against Stratford, albeit by the skin of our teeth. So, this will be the third season in a row when both the U8750 and the Open team are involved on finals night, as we seek an unprecedented "double-double." Another milestone for the club history books!
Dhairya put up the most convincing display, making relatively short work of Aiden Keavy on Board 2. I didn't see a lot of it, but it was clear from very early on that Dhairya was overwhelmingly better on the board, and his swift conversion came as no surprise. Another terrific performance from one of our players of the season.
Dylan was the next to finish against Oliver Gray on Board 4, but it sadly just wasn't Dylan's night. Somehow Oliver seemed to find a way to fully permeate deep into Dylan's position and it looked very difficult to find a meaningful defence. Dylan gave it a good go, but not to be. There will be better nights ahead I am sure.
Paul then went down on Board 1 against Alexander Roberts. Paul's game was being played in the corner of a packed room, and as a result I did not see a single move of it. Paul told me afterwards that Alexander had played really well, and it sounded like a good tussle.
So we were 1-2 down. I was slightly better on Board 3 and Dan's position looked very unclear to me on Board 5 and we had no margin for error...
I found my defeat on Monday night very painful, but the reality is that we all lose to weaker players from time to time. All you can do is dust yourself off and try and do better in the next one. I'll still look back at this as a week when I wasn't at my best, but the cup game has certainly made me feel a bit better. I was somewhat sluggish out of the opening against Oliver Budd. A lot of material came off, and we ended up in a heavy piece late middle game, with a queen and two rooks each, which did not abound with winning chances. However, I was a little bit more active, and had potentially the more threatening pawn breaks. I was also the player who was pushing harder to make something of it.
I got into time trouble as per usual, and saw parallels with the previous night when I'd over pressed and gone wrong. But my current theory is that if you play positively, it might not always work, but the percentages are likely to favour you over the longer term. After extensive manoeuvring (of which I was quite proud) I set the pawn break up very nicely and was threatening to crash through on the kingside. I threw in a decoy tactic, which meant that if Oliver played the most logical move to block the pawn break, I'd spring a very nice trap and pick up a lot of wood. Oliver missed the tactic, and I won a rook for a pawn. Looking back at the moves now, it all looks pretty straightforward from this point on, but it was a bit nerve-wracking in the moment as I had so little time. Eventually I got the queens off, and then his rook. Oliver's pawns weren't fast enough to take on my remaining rook. So we were back to 2-2!
A big crowd gathered to watch the crucial Board 5 game between Dan and Peter Stiff. Material was level, but it was a messy position. Dan's structure was a bit compromised and he had an advanced isolated pawn that needed a fair bit of looking after. He was also very short of time. These endgame positions are very hard to play if you are not a GM, and to be fair to Peter, he did come up with some nice moves but just wasn't quite accurate enough. Also credit to Peter for turning down a draw as Stratford needed to win the game, while we only needed a draw.
Eventually, Dan managed to find a way to get his pawn chain working very effectively, and his pawns sprang into life on the queenside in a way that suddenly made them look a lot more menacing than Peter's passed central pawn. Some nice tactics followed, as Peter was forced to round up Dan's queenside pawns, which left the kingside at Dan's mercy as his doubled g pawns transformed from a weakness to an unstoppable force. A really great result - Dan's fighting qualities and his skill had got us into the final!
Details are yet to be confirmed, but it will certainly be a night to look forward to.
March 17th was a busy night for the club, with three teams in action. Ben has already written about the C team's win away at Rugby, while we had a double header at the Abbey Club, with the A team playing Shirley A and the E team Shirley D. It was honours even (2-2) in the Division 3 encounter - where congratulations are due to debutant Phil Dean for securing our only win - but in the Division 1 match up, the A team dealt fairly brutally with Shirley A, finishing with a 3.5-0.5 win, which for much of the night looked sure to be 4-0. This returned us to the top of the table on game points and kept our opponents rooted to the foot of the table and facing relegation - which would have already been confirmed but for Joshua's now infamous board order blunder that converted a 3.5-0.5 win for our B team into a 0-4 loss. Shirly A now have only one match left to save themselves, against fellow strugglers Stratford A, with whom they are equal on points but with 3 more matches played. Should be quite a tense encounter between the two teams on March 31st, when nothing less than a Shirley win will give them any chance of avoiding the drop!
Last night, though, we were not in the mood for being charitable to our guests, and from quite early on it was a race to see who would win first. For all the world it looked like it would be Javier on Board 2, who took a gambitted pawn in the opening and completely dominated the game thereafter. But Jonathan Dale is never one to resign early and here he continued up to and beyond Javier queening a pawn. This delayed proceedings sufficiently for Jude to win the race to the finish line, after a really excellent game against Phil Purcell on Board 1. He seemed to play really precisely against Phil's London (yawn) set up, ending up in a completely dominant rook and bishop v rook and knight ending where several of White's pawns proved indefensible. A really convincing win against a strong opponent.
I'm pretty sure that I played less moves than either Jude or Javier, but I was still only able to claim the bronze position on the podium after beating Gordon Christie. I ganged up on and won an advanced White e pawn in the opening and when Gordon made a two tempi losing move in the middle game I had a combo to win 2 pieces for a rook, which not long after became an extra piece.
Which left our skipper Andrew in play on Board 4 against Dave Thomas. Every time I glanced over at the game, I was sure Andrew was about to win a piece, as Dave had an errant knight which was hopping about on c3 and b5, defended mainly by a queen on a5. Somehow, though, the knight proved to be uncatchable and the game eventually went into a rook and bishops of the same colour ending. Even when all the pawns got exchanged on the queenside and it was only 3 v 3 on the kingside White seemed to have chances, as the Black king was very uncomfortably placed on h6. But with only rooks on it was impossible for the White king to avoid checks and the position was drawn. Good defence by Dave, but it was a mighty close run thing.
Its lucky dip time on the music front this week. (Which means I can't think of anything even remotely connected to the title or theme of this report!) It might be 12 years old, but it still qualifies as modern by my standards!
Having picked up only one point from the last six on offer, the promotion chasing C team knew we badly needed a win last night, away to Rugby A. We got it, but I will keep this write-up brief. Rugby defaulted a board (thankfully telling us in advance and thus saving Dhairya and Sagar a trip.) So 1-0 to us before a piece had been moved.
We were very grateful to Harry for turning out on Board 2. He seemed to drop the exchange against Dave Riley, but even so had too much quality and brought home the full point. Paul played out a solid draw on Board 1 against Mark Gilbert, to secure both match points.
Many hours later, my absolute determination not to draw with James Peel saw my wishes granted when I screwed up in the time scramble and missed a tactic. Excruciating - it's about a year since I last messed up on such a colossal scale, but credit to James. Part of me thinks this is the occasional price for always playing to win, part of me would prefer not to think about it at all. (I am not finding writing any of this particularly cathartic - too soon I guess...)
Ultimately as a team we did what we needed to do and are now three points clear at the top of the table. All eyes will be metaphorically on Coventry when they play on Thursday. The classic question as to what is worth more - games in hand or points on the board. Time will tell.
The cup team are in action against Stratford tonight, so hopefully I'll be in a cheerier mood after that, but as we all know - nothing in chess is ever guaranteed.
Either way, now this report is written, I would be grateful if this match could never be spoken of again.
Kenilworth C wrapped up what has been a disappointing week for the club, with a narrow defeat away to Banbury B last night. On paper we probably had the edge, but that counted for little when the action got underway.
Andy got us off to a decent start, with a very solid draw against Nathan Manley on Board 1. If this game was relatively sedate, it is fair to say that the other three were anything but... Paul and Michal both seemed to be losing (against Mal Waddell and Francesco Poderico respectively). Meanwhile, I was winning, but battling against the clock and some resolute defending on the part of Nick Martin.
Eventually Michal seemed to stabilise proceedings on Board 3, and I had some hope that he might scrape a draw, but the improving Francesco held his nerve to put us 0.5 - 1.5 down going into the final 10 minutes of the match.
At this point I had two minutes on my clock to Nick's eight. After two and a half hours of having the better position I still did, but I was continuing to struggle to find the decisive blow. Nick offered me a draw and I was tempted, especially as I suspected Paul was going to lose. But, this is the new look positive me (to a point!) so I decided to play on. GM Ben Finegold once said that the secret to chess is to play as if you never want the game to end, and there must be something in that. Yet it was ultimately a Garry Kasparov observation that most resonated. Namely, that it is easier to attack than it is to defend, and if a defender has to continually find saving moves the pressure often tells eventually. So it was here. The difference on our clocks diminished rapidly, and Nick finally missed a defence which enabled me to break through - and sportingly Nick allowed me to play a nice finish through to checkmate.
Yet while this was a decent effort for me personally, sadly it wasn't enough. Paul's game had been completely wild from the opening salvos. Frankly I had no idea what was going on (beyond thinking that I much preferred Mal's position, which was the correct assessment.) Paul ended up two pawns down in an endgame, and Mal converted comfortably enough. So 1.5 - 2.5.
Unfortunately, this means that the promotion chase is no longer in our own hands. Yet perhaps the great thing about chess is that however badly a game or a match goes, a shot at redemption is never very far away. The C team are in action against Rugby next week, and we also have a big U8750 semi final, as we continue our defence of that title. Looking further ahead there are still a handful of League games left, so it's all to play for. We'll dust ourselves off and go again...
Yesterday the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham produced a shock result - the starting prices of the first three horses were 25/1 (Golden Ace); 66/1 (Burdett Road) and 150/1 (Winter Fog).
And yesterday evening, the Coventry League KO Cup Final saw a shock that was arguably bigger still, when Division 2 Rugby A, who I would have made at least 10/1 outsiders in a 2 horse race, managed to hold off the might of KCC to lift the cup. Sure, we won the match 2.5-1.5, but Rugby had a 1.25 points handicap advantage, so they ended up edging us out by 2.75-2.5. Full credit to them, but this was an open goal - of Ronny Rosenthal proportions - missed by us.
Our rating advantage, by board, was 319, 417, 337 and 409, but on the evidence of this match, you need at least 410 points in hand to be sure of winning, and I was the only one on the right side of that thresh-hold!
Things started to go wrong when Mike bailed out on Board 3 with a timely draw offer against Martin Wilson - as he was a pawn down; miles behind on the clock and probably losing, this was a wise decision, and thankfully Martin was happy to take the half point. But it already reduced our margin for error, as we needed to score at least 3 points to overcome Rugby's handicap advantage. So we could have two small accidents, or one big accident and still win - and surely with such enormous rating disparities on all boards we could score 2.5 out of the remaining 3 matches?
Well, next to finish was me, with what - quite improbably - turned out to be our only win of the evening. Dave Riley sacked a pawn in the opening as Black to double the pawns in front of my king, but there was very little play for the material, and I soon annexed a second pawn, then a piece, then a third pawn and when I threatened mate and it could only be averted by giving up a queen, Dave had to resign.
But now that I had time to look at the positions in the remaining two games I started to get a bit nervous, as it wasn't obvious where our second win was coming from. Keatan was trying to push on top board against Mark Gilbert, but Paul seemed to be clearly worse against Leslie Williams on bottom board, with rook and knight against rook and bishop, with plenty of pawns. It looked like Paul's opponent could have forced a draw by repetition to me, but instead he went for a convoluted manoeuvre that saw his rook mysteriously end up on h8. So some hope for us yet. But then I glanced back at Keatan's game to discover that, short of time, he had dropped two pieces for a rook and things looked distinctly bleak here. But Keatan, in his typical fashion, gritted his teeth and dug in to get a draw - though he may well have been losing in the final position.
However, it ended up not mattering, as Paul's position had not improved - and in fact had seemingly become dead lost! He'd dropped a pawn somewhere along the way and ended up with a lone rook against Black's rook and g pawn. But Paul's king was cut off, and the Black king was in front of the pawn safe from any checks. And then the gods cruelly intervened and Black - with plenty of time - simply unprotected his last pawn and Paul was saved from defeat. But a third draw of the night meant we weren't!
So no Coventry League silverware for KCC this season, when the opportunities were right there in front of us to do the double. But thanks to a major cock-up in a league match against Coventry by me and this cup catastrophe (not guilty, m'lud!) we ended up empty handed instead. My sombre mood demands some suitably soulful music. And you can't get much more soulful than this epic blues rendition by the Allman Brothers. "They call it stormy Monday, but Tuesday's just as bad!" In fact it was even worse!!
We are at the stage of the season where selection is becoming something of a challenge for the D team. Paul and Rhys are no longer eligible. Going into last night's game against Olton, Bernard was also away. We then lost Dhairya in the days before the game. All of which meant that our line up had something of a patched up look to it. A bit akin to an injury hit Premier League team on the final stretch. Given the challenging circumstances, I could not be more proud of our players, who secured an excellent 2-2 draw and a very helpful League point.
Dylan got us off to a great start on Board 2 against Rob Reynolds. This is the highest Dylan has ever played for the team and he looked completely at home. I thought Rob was possibly a little better when he offered a draw and Dylan did exactly the right thing in accepting it. Another very promising step in Dylan's development as he continues to make great strides in his chess.
Patrick was a last minute call up on Board 4, for his first D team game of the season, and we are very grateful for his efforts. He always looked very comfortable against the higher rated Warren Archibold and another draw ensued. It really speaks to our strength and depth as a club and a great night's work on Patrick's part.
Dan played the game of the night on Board 3 against Richard Evans. I did not see all of it, but Dan just seemed to build up a very powerful attack, which ultimately culminated in the threat of a forced smothered mate. A very nice finish to put as 2-1 up, as Dan's excellent season continues.
All of which left me on Board 1 against Mike Hollier. I was worse out of the opening. Then I was winning. Stupidly I got over optimistic and unwisely snatched a pawn. I think a product of feeling like I deserved something from the superior position, but unfortunately it was a poor decision. We ended up playing to the last few seconds and I did think I might hold it, but I'd given myself too much to do. So back down to earth with a bump after my weekend exploits. It was ever thus...
Still - a very good result for the team in the circumstances. Well done to Dan, Dylan and Patrick for a really good effort.
All chess players think about why they play and what they want from the game. For most of us, our relationship with the sixty-four squares is double-edged. Who wouldn't want to be a little better or to win a bit more regularly? We all know that the pain of losing hurts more than the positive buzz that comes when we win. All too often chess is a game of disappointment or coming up just short - and that is the price we have to pay for playing.
I am sure my biggest critic would not dispute what chess means to me. I've made so many friends, had lots of wonderful experiences and much of what I have done as a writer in terms of my books and articles is closely bound up with the chess world. Yet the gap between being the player I am and the player I want to be has been a challenge at times. Especially at a club like Kenilworth. On the one hand, I see and delight in seeing so much world class talent coming through our ranks. On the other, this accentuates my sense that I'll only ever be a journeyman. Someone who is capable of beating better players (and losing to weaker ones) but rarely consistent enough to suggest I am going to make much progress.
Indeed after a terrible season a couple of years ago I was at a very low ebb. Thanks to Paul Lam's help, I have improved my chess psychology, my opening repertoire and how I prepare. Essentially I now spend more time looking at my own games, do more tactical puzzles, and play a little less online blitz. All of which has helped me have a pretty reasonable season. Yet in the many years I've played prior to yesterday, my sum total of tournament victories (outside the LDCL Individual KOs) consisted of a junior open victory, an LDCL rapidplay major win and a share of first place at a Shropshire major (with Ed Goodwin as I recall). Not a great return on the zillions of tournaments I have played in.
It is true of course that I don't enter tournaments because I expect to win. If that was the case I would have stopped playing chess years ago. But it is nice to think that sometimes it might be your day - and most unexpectedly for me that day turned out to be yesterday, as I ended up the joint winner of the Open section of the Swindon Rapidplay!
I had set off with some hope, as I was down as the number 1 seed in the U1900, but arrived to find that the Open and U1900 had been merged. I said to Mrs G "there goes that then," but she said "just try and win the Open instead," so I did!
I started with two routine wins before a bit of heartbreak in round 3 against Ben Ogunshola (the number 1 seed and tournament organiser who is in the photo). I unbelievably managed to throw away a won position at the death in the time scramble. This has become a bit of a habit of late, especially as in round 5 I did the same thing, but this time managed to cling on for the draw. I just tell myself that like a striker who doesn't always score from good positions, the fact that I am consistently getting into them must mean something...
So I was on 3.5/5 going into the final round. A point behind the tournament leader and talented England junior Zack Norris (2058) who had just downed the slightly misfiring and out of the money tournament IM Petr Marusenko. I knew that a win would guarantee me a share of second, and would be good for a share of first so long as Ben Ogunshola did not win his final game (which he didn't!)
I think previously I would have been a bit overwhelmed. Zack is obviously the stronger player. But I resolved just to play. Twenty moves in, I could not help but think to myself, this looks pretty good. Still, given I knew I wasn't always holding onto my good positions, I did not take anything for granted. I found a nice tactic and won a piece for two pawns. A wildly complicated middle game ensued, but I was better co-ordinated and could see that Zack was very unhappy with his position. Eventually I forced another tactic and won Zack's queen for rook. A lot more moves followed, but by this point I knew I'd got this!
So a £100 prize and a trophy (to say nothing of a TPR of 2002!) Ben said to me afterwards that I looked happier than any of the kids. I'm sure that was true. They haven't suffered like I have. Mrs G says it is not sufficient to suggest I should pack it all in and go professional, and we are still negotiating as to whether the trophy can be displayed in the sitting room. In all seriousness I doubt that this is going to be the start of me winning lots more tournaments. But it was a very nice feeling, which I will always remember. Every dog and all that!
Or at least so I thought before during and immediately after our final Coventry League match of the season against Warwick Uni B last night. Until Paul told me that if Warwick Uni A had lost against Nuneaton A in their final match, we could have overtaken them and won the Division 1 title for the second time in our history. Regrettably, though, it subsequently transpired that Nuneaton could not even muster 4 players for their match, let alone inflict a defeat on the University A team, and so the title eluded us again and we had to be satisfied with 2nd place, two points adrift but 4 pts clear of 3rd place Coventry A.
So in the end I was right, and last night's match really didn't matter anymore. Which was a shame, as we rounded off the season with a 4-0 victory, though the match seemed a lot harder work than the final score line implied.
Keatan, sporting some natty new Isle of Wight Open merch, was tghe last to arrive and the first to finish on Board 1, winning with the Black pieces. I missed the denouement, but previously I had seen that the position was getting quite tactical and the White queen was running short of squares. But who knows what actually happened? Only Keatan, I imagine!
Paul followed soon after, crashing through to victory with a kingside pawn storm that was not to be denied. I was the next point on the score card after an absolute rollercoaster of a game, where I built up a +5 advantage; gave it away; got a completely winning position again but gave that away too, and finally clinched the point after getting my third winning position of the evening. It was all very exciting - just not very good! And then Mike completed the clean sweep though not before failing to take a whole rook with check, which would have left him a rook and bishop up. As it was, one extra piece was enough and the win soon followed.
So that's the Coventry League season over for another year, except for the small matter of the KO Cup Final next week against Division 2 team Rugby A, when we will have to try and overcome the handicap disadvantage, which means we need to win 3-1 to annex the trophy.
You don't need to be a rocket scientist to guess what our song is going to be this week.
There was a moment at the British Rapidplay, after I threw away a third winning position, when I inwardly compared myself to the hapless banker in the film Notting Hill. You might know the scene? The poor chap staggers home only to declare "Another disastrous day at the office... millions down the drain I fear...I never did understand this job," or something along those lines. Fortunately, my tournament picked up with 3.5/4 at the finish, which meant that my personal takeaway from the proceedings ended up being a lot more positive. Namely I noticed that I had scored 4.5/5 with black and 1.5/6 with white. So perhaps black really is OK?
Partly this was the vagaries of playing stronger players with white and weaker players with black in the early rounds. But not entirely... Indeed had my 1950 opponent not missed N-f6+ in the final round, my tally with the white pieces might have been even worse. Heck, I wouldn't presume to say that the chess gods owed me one, but it was certainly a very satisfying final move to play in the tournament.
Just by way of reference, it is possible for games with black to resemble puzzle rush on chess.com. I very much enjoyed playing Rh1# in the below in an earlier round. (My opponent asked me afterwards where I thought he had gone wrong and I did gently suggest he should have given the material back and chopped off the black bishop when that had still been a possibility...)
So when Kenilworth D travelled to Shirley on Monday night I was intrigued to see if black would prove to be OK once more - and indeed it was - even though as a team we we weren't. Black ended up with 3/4 on the night, and while both our half points came with black, it obviously wasn't enough...
I finished first on Board 2 against Keith Ingram. While playing down a line I knew well, I tried something different to see what would happen (that's what a weekend of fast chess will do for you...) It wasn't great, but I untangled myself reasonably easily, a lot of wood came off and we were the first to finish.
Dylan was playing the very strong Owen Adams (who I suspect is going to be much higher rated very soon) on board 3. A tactical melee ensued. It was very complicated and very difficult. I went through the game in the bar afterwards with Owen and a couple of the Shirley players. Dylan put up a good fight, but unfortunately it wasn't quite enough - still a good effort though.
Which left Dhariya up against Darren Whitmore on one, and Dan playing Dave Thomas on four. There was a time when I thought both Kenilworth players were winning, albeit I now suspect Dhariya never was. Dan was up the exchange against Dave, but Dave had a central pawn break and a bishop that controlled the key queening square. One of those positions where it was hard to see what else Dan could have done. Ultimately he had to return the material and ran very short of time, so a draw was a fair result. A great game for the spectators though.
Dhariya's was even more so. A whole host of pieces were en prise, but what I had probably overlooked in my initial assessment was the strength of Darren's passed b pawn which managed to find its way to the second rank. A whole host of tactics suddenly went Darren's way despite Dhariya's excellent resistance. A really terrific battle - but one that left us 1-3 losers, with Shirley (and black) as the winners!
It doesn't matter too much as the team is safe from relegation and can just enjoy our chess between now and the end of the season. We're next in action next week, when we will see once again if black continues to be OK!
This must be a first for the KCC blog - a double tournament report written by someone who wasn't present - let alone playing - at either of them. But thanks to the wonders of modern technology, it almost felt like I was actually there.
At least that's the case as far as the main event of this weekend - the British Rapidplay Championship at Peterborough - was concerned, as there were up to 93 boards transmitted live in each round. With so many KCC players in action, not to mention those from my 4NCL team, Warwickshire Select, it was almost impossible to keep up with everything that was happening. But when the chaos ended, after 11 rounds of 15 mins + 10 secs slugfests spread over 2 days, it was possible to take a deep breath and see how our six brave warriors/gluttons for punishment (delete as applicable!) had acquitted themselves. Pretty well, it's fair to say!
The KCC contingent was, in start rank order:-
28 Jude 37 Billy 82 Bruce B 109 Keatan 115 Andy W
124 Ben
And they finished like this, in a field of 217 players:-
33 Billy 7 pts/TPR 2161 44 Bruce 7 pts/TPR 2016 71 Jude 6 pts/TPR 2171 90 Ben 6 pts/TPR 1785 123 Keatan 5 pts/TPR 1820
125 Andy 5 pts/ TPR 1906
The final scores hide the full drama, though, because - as the Tournament Performance Ratings reveal - Jude and Billy played many of their games on very high boards, while Bruce (to pluck a name at random!) spent much of his time grovelling on the mid/lower boards before producing a storming finish on Sunday, when he scored 4/5, culminating in a last round victory over Jude which massively affected the KCC mini-league table. In fact, Jude seemed to run out of steam completely at the end, losing the last three rounds having climbed to a very exciting 9th= after 8 rounds.
There were some titled scalps claimed by the KCC contingent along the way - Jude beating Italian FM Lorenzo Fava and pride of place going to Andy for a win over IM Neil Bradbury. Both Keatan (Round 1) and Billy (Round 3) got to play on top board against number 1 seed, GM Gawain Jones (just the 2797 RP rating!), while Jude faced off against GMs Gormally and Kovchan.
So no prizes or titles to be reported from Peterborough, but we do have a Kenilworth triumph to celebrate, as I've left the best news till last. Because in the rather calmer waters of the Warwick University Rapidplay on Saturday, Javier produced a storming performance to win the Open with 6.5/7 - conceding only a draw to top seed, Australian FM Sam Chow (rated 2483!) - who thankfully doesn't bother turning out for Warwick Uni in the Coventry League. Javi imperiously swept all other opposition aside to secure the £160 1st prize and post a massive TPR of 2452, virtually 300 points over his own rapidplay rating. After threatening to play in this event myself, I'm glad I decided to give it a miss and avoid being run over by a Spanish express train! On a weekend where there was "muchos rapidplay" played "muy rapido", Javi takes the prize for being "mas poderoso"!
And to round off this speed chess episode, let's play ourselves out with a suitably themed song!
Which even by my standards is an oblique way of introducing the subject of TITLES!
And this we definitely need to do, as it will probably surprise you to learn that we now have 5 - soon to be 6 - over the board titled players at KCC, (holding 7 titles between them) which is pretty amazing for a club/town of our size. It may also surprise you when I reveal that its quite probable that you, dear reader, could join this illustrious band, albeit that for most of us this would have to be at the lower end of the title spectrum! Because, in its infinite wisdom, the ECF sometime ago introduced a whole raft of titles that cover almost all levels of over the board playing standards. (And anyone suggesting that this was a money generating exercise by the ECF should be ashamed of themselves for being so cynical.)
Starting at the bottom, we have the title of English Chess Maestro, which requires holding a rating of 1400+ as an average for a 12 months' period (minimum 30 games). And the payment of £5. There are currently 42 of these by my count (from the ECF website), and before you say that this is a pretty meaningless title I should point out that it was awarded in February 2016 to Shreyas Royal - now a Grand Master! But KCC doesn't have any ECMs, as our illustrious members have higher aspirations.
The next rung on the ladder is the English Team Maestro, which requires holding a rating of 1600+ as an average for a 12 months period (minimum 30 games). And the payment of £5, of course. I count 53 ETMs, but once again KCC comes up blank in this category. Though future GM Shreyas Royal (Feb 2017) makes another appearance in this list!
Continuing up the ladder we reach English Club Master, which requires holding a rating of 1800+ as an average for a 12 months period (minimum 30 games). And the payment of £5, of course. There are 86 ECMs, and finally we find a KCC name on the list - Paul B (and his daughter Jo, who came along to a recent club night), though I fear he acquired his title well before he joined us. Surprisingly this title eluded Shreyas Royal, but there is an even more impressive name on the roll of honour, three times British Champion, GM Gawain Jones! (Who, as I type this article, Keatan is just about to play in Round 1 of the British Rapidplay Championship. I am sure he will acquit himself with more credit than I did when I played Gawain in Round 1 of the King's Place Rapidplay Tournament many years ago and lost in under 20 moves with White!) Other interesting names on the ECM list include 3 times British Women's Champion Dinah Norman and former Egghead (and ECF President, I think) C.J. de Mooi.
Rather confusingly, the next ECF category is also ECM, though in this case it stands for English County Master, which requires holding a rating of 2000+ as an average for a 12 months period (minimum 30 games). And the payment this time of £10, reflecting the fact that we ae now moving into the higher reaches of the grading list. There are 61 of these ECMs, and while there are no KCC members amongst them, I have spotted two former team mates of mine at Mitcham Chess Club and 2 current team mates of Bruce B at Central Birmingham.
And still we ascend the ladder, now reaching the title of English Regional Master (ERM, but not to be confused with the Exchange Rate Mechanism, that economists of a certain age will recall), which requires holding a rating of 2100+ as an average for a 12 months period (minimum 30 games). And the payment of £10. There are 58 members of this club, including Andy B and Mike as KCC representatives, though the strongest player of the ERM group is future IM Tom Rendle. I could claim this title, but modesty - and my desire to hang onto a tenner - forbids me from applying.
I expect that a little bit of research and the payment of a further tenner might well see that Andy could claim the next, and highest, ECF awarded title - and one that is really worth having, as it enables you to play in the chess.com Titled Tuesday tournaments with the world's strongest players - that of National Master (NM). As I'm sure that he must have reached the qualification standard in his prime. Which was obviously long before he played for us! The NM requirement is for a rating of 2200+ as an average for a 12 months period (minimum 30 games). And the payment of £10. Which demands a really impressive level of play. And I speak as someone who has never achieved an ECF rating of 2200 for even 1 day, let alone 12 months!
But never mind, as KCC has no less than 2 National Masters anyway! Both Paul L and Jude got awarded the title on June 17, 2024 - in Paul's case the achievement relating to performances several (where several is quite a large number!) years earlier. I guess I was too occupied with other things to celebrate this achievement at the time, so apologies to our two NMs for the late acknowledgement of their richly deserved titles.
But it doesn't end there, as we also have the much grander stage of the world arena to consider, in the form of titles awarded by FIDE. The first step on the road to becoming a GM is to attain an ELO rating of 2200, which is the qualification level for becoming a Candidate Master. Jude reached this milestone in December 2024, when he posted his - to date - peak rating of 2249. Talk about clearing the required height with ease! But what reminded me that this subject needed to be reported on the blog is that he will soon be joined in this elite company by a second KCC member - and its another highly talented graduate of Paul's Coventry Chess Academy - who has reached the 2200+ rating requirement. These kids! Honestly!! So step forward Billy, after a brilliant performance at last month's Isle of Wight Open, where he gained over 100 ELO points and now finds himself in possession of a FIDE rating of 2203. And an ECF rating, by the way, of 2268, which is just one point below Jude!!
Sorry Javi, but at 2265 you are now only the third highest rated player in the club! Its quite unbelievable that we have 3 players rated over 2260. (That's never happened before in KCC history.) Though they have never all played in the same Kenilworth team!
Something upbeat is required to celebrate the latest addition to the KCC title holders club. This will do nicely, I think.
We had the second leg of our top of Division two clash away against Coventry A last night. I am delighted to be able to report that it went much better than the home match!
Chess is always about resilience, both for teams and at an individual level. I had lost back to back games at the Coventry Congress on Saturday, and my opponent then didn't turn up on the Sunday morning. "The weekend from hell" as someone put it to me. An incredibly cheering conversation followed during which it was asked whether I was in the right section (I was the number 10 seed and well over the grading limit for the section below) and it was pointed out to me that the much higher rated player I had drawn with recently "drew with everybody." More painful than the chess... But clearly the key is not to look to others for motivation but just to get on with it. I won a really good game against Ian Brodie (who I don't have a brilliant record against) on the Sunday afternoon and felt much better. Given I'd also won a game on Thursday for Shirley on the Thursday that put me on 2/4 for the set. So a convoluted way of saying that chess is all about swings and roundabouts. We all have good days and bad days. You have got to be in it to win it! Setting out with the same team that had lost 1-3 to Coventry in the previous match, we knew we needed to show what we could do both collectively and individually. Resilience is all.
Andy got us off to a terrific start against Maung Latt (who most be a contender to be the strongest player in Division 2.) Having been beaten in the previous game, Andy dug deep and played ultra-solid, ultra-professional chess. Maung had no way through and Andy delivered us an excellent half point to start things off.
On Board 2, Paul was again playing Jonathan Fowler, and another incredibly lively game ensued. Paul looked to have the better of it on the board, Jonathan on the clock. In a very complicated position a draw (mirroring their previous encounter) was a fair result. So 1-1.
There was heartbreak for Rhys on Board 3 against Ed Goodwin. The pair are of very similar strength, but Ed is becoming something of a nemesis for Rhys. In a position that looked fine to me, Rhys overlooked a tactic and fell into a mating net. This gave Ed his third win against Rhys in recent weeks. Unfortunate, but Rhys is delivering so much for the team and getting great results more generally. Just one of those nights for him... 1-2
All of which meant I had to win against John Harris on Board 4 to get us a share of the spoils. This was the only match which didn't mirror the home encounter in terms of opponents, but my challenge was a similar one. Namely to beat a lower rated player, which I had failed to do last time out, when my own terrible choices led to a draw against Dave Filer. This one would ultimately prove to be a happier experience. I found a nice tactic to win a pawn, which John countered with a knight sacrifice. For a moment my head swam and I wondered what I had missed, but the sacrifice wasn't sound. I emerged up by a piece to a pawn. At that point in the proceedings I assumed I was going to be the first to finish. However, the position remained incredibly open and complicated. As with 80% of my games these days, we played till the final few minutes and were the last to conclude. I eventually found a way to simplify and once I'd got the queens off, I was looking much more comfortable. John ultimately lost on time in a lost position. So 2-2.
We had done it! This means we stay one point ahead of Coventry A in the table, with both teams having played the same number of games. With five matches to go, it's in our own hands. Who can say whether we will hold on or not, but either way, we are all going to dig deep.
Its been a long time since I played on consecutive nights for Kenilworth, but Monday and Tuesday of this week saw me back in double action and also gave me the chance for another twofer post, when you get two match reports for the price of one.
On Monday the A team hosted Olton A in the Leamington League. We were distinctly below strength, though still fielding a pretty respectable team, but with Jude, Billy and Keatan all in the Isle of Wight this week, we were missing the youth dynamic that has been a feature of our success in recent years, and Javier was also absent. Fortunately David made one of his rare appearances for the club (nice to see you again!) but he's virtually an old man now that he's in his twenties, so we weren't expecting too much of a youthful dynamic from him, and he didn't disappoint! In fact, he was the first to finish, agreeing a draw with Mark Cundy on Board 2 after his non-mainstream approach failed to get anywhere against Mark's Dutch Defence. My game finished next, with me victorious against Richard Liszewski. Richard went wrong in the early middle game, and after some distinctly sub-optimal play from both parties I eventually won a piece for a couple of pawns and then swapped off all the pieces to secure the point. Unfortunately, though, Andrew lost on Board 1 against Alan Lloyd, and it was all level again. This left Mike to decide the match against Richard Reynolds. Mike had been pressing slightly for most of the game, and I had hopes that Richard would find the defence too difficult in time pressure, but when Mike went the wrong way about winning a stray Black pawn, Richard was able to steer the game into an opposite bishops ending that was easily drawn despite the pawn minus. So only 2-2 in a match we would have hoped to win, though it was enough - just! - to send the A team back to the top of the table ahead of Banbury A, who had also dropped a point in their most recent match against Stratford A. All still to play for.
Regrettably there was pretty much nothing left to play for in our penultimate Coventry League match of the season last night against Nuneaton A, with bost teams destined to finish amongst the also rans behind Warwick Uni A. But our encounters usually result in competitive matches in which both sides can fancy their chances when play starts. Though I didn't fancy our chances much last night almost from the off, when Ben made a horrendous blunder in the opening against Tony Green and was immediately 2 pawns down and lost. As he admitted afterwards, he almost resigned and went home, but thankfully he stayed, rolled up his sleeves and tried to find some way of making life difficult for Tony. And somehow or other he must have succeeded as he produced a miracle save to make a draw!
Which was what also happened on the other three boards as well. In each game White was better/winning, but this counted for nothing in the final analysis as all 4 games were drawn. Paul was a pawn up against Colin Green on Board 3 but was unable to hold on to the extra material in a heavy piece ending, while Mike had to tough it out on Board 2 to get a half point against Paul Davies when the position turned against him and he was saddled with a backwards d pawn and very weak light squares. But tough it out he did to secure the half point. And it was the same result in my game on top board against Phil Briggs, though in this case the White advantage was +2 or +3 for most of the time according to the engine. Not that I realised this completely at the time, as Phil played in his normal imaginative fashion to set plenty of tactical problems, which eventually I failed to solve, and just when I should have been crashing through to victory I wimped out and swapped pieces off to reach a drawn ending. Rather a waste of an overwhelming position, but at least pleasing for those who like a symmetrical result on the match card. 2-2 did neither of us any good - but nor did it do us any harm. And it passed the time quite engagingly ..... though the journey to/from Nuneaton is something of a trek, so thanks to Paul for acting as chauffeur for Mike and myself last night.
Regular readers will be expecting some splendid music to finish this post off, and here it is. Timeless magic from - good grief - over 50 years ago. RIP Dickey Betts, guitarist extraordinaire. In the right hands, I think the electric guitar may well be the greatest invention of all time.
We're getting very close to the end of our meander through the first 35 years or so of the club's history. In fact, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Unless its a train coming straight towards me. Either way, this interminable saga is almost complete.
April 2009 - The Club Secretary sends out (on April 1st of all dates - I'm saying nothing) notice of the forthcoming AGM and things are serious enough that as well as an agenda he also includes a separate letter describing the difficulties of the Thursday social chess nights. Attendance is down to only 4 or 5 people on some weeks, possibly due to the fact that our home match night is Wednesday and not so many people are eager to spend two successive nights at the Royal British Legion Club. The Secretary also raises the prospect of a return to the Sports and Social Club and urges members to think of new ways to promote the club, as there have been few newcomers to KCC in recent years. I should just like to mention that in keeping with the general level of administrative excellence which has characterised the club in recent years, the Secretary once again fails to specify the AGM venue, presumably relying on osmosis or something similar to inform the membership of this minor detail.
May 2009 - The AGM is held on May 7th in the unspecified and unrecorded venue. Fifteen people somehow turn up, including many familiar names (Aldridge, Holland, Johnson, King, Krombeen, Morris, Payne, Pickering (T), Rogers, Shurrock, Watson, Whatson, Webb and Wood) and an unfamiliar one (A. Riddoch). Apologies were received from Messrs Pickering (C) and Pelton, but P. Mills, N. Mottram and K. Raison are absent without apology. (I think I should reinstate this system of naming and shaming in any future AGM Minutes I might pen.)
The Chairman was able to tell the AGM that this had been the club's most successful season for many years. With 5 teams, we were the largest club in the LDCL, and all teams finished in the top half of their divisions. Star turn was the C team, who won Division 3 by 6(!!) points, while the D team came 1st= in Division 4 ..... with the E team, who they shaded on game points! And Mike Johnson won the league individual competition, beating Dave Shurrock in the final. The Secretary, predictably, had nothing to report yet again, while the Treasurer followed suit and failed to produce any accounts. Even though the only items of expenditure had been £170 on League fees and £40 of catering for the League Jamboree. He effectively asked the meeting to believe him when he said sufficient revenue had been collected to cover these costs and subs were left unchanged. All post-holders were re-elected for the coming season, meaning we would once again field 5 teams - but the all conquering C team would remain in Division 3.
Finally the meeting arrived at the contentious issue of venue. In an uncanny foreshadowing of future years, Mike Johnson said that some members would never turn up at club nights, whatever the day of the week or venue. Roy proposed that the Committee be mandated to look at alternative venues and decide upon the best choice, but the rank and file was having none of this elitism and rejected the idea. Ever the diplomat, Mike Johnson instead successfully proposed that the Committee should indeed investigate possible venues and recommend its preference for consideration by the membership at the EGM/Team Formation Meeting before the start of the 2009-10 season. Under AOB it was reported that the club's equipment was not in great shape, and Bruce H and Chris agreed to take an inventory and make recommendations for any additional requirements.
And so the meeting closed at 10.50, with no-one any the wiser as to where they would be playing next season!
August 2009 - The EGM (18 people in attendance!) decides upon the team composition for the coming season (naming 17 players and 2 reserves), but of the much anticipated venue recommendation there is no mention. So maybe everything in the garden is rosy, after all? ............... No!!
April 2010 - Bernard writes to the membership. The club faces a serious crisis - we are being evicted by the Royal British Legion from the upstairs concert room, as it has been let (for a whole 52 weeks) to two separate aerobics classes at £20 a night. The Club Secretary told them we were rather disappointed that this had been decided without any contact with KCC, for which they apologised, but he admits it is a moot point as there was no way we would have matched this rent. The Secretary further reports that club night attendances have been very disappointing, and the small spend by KCC members has doubtless encouraged the RBL to seek alternative business. The Sports and Social Club is still available, though the room is extremely untidy and Bernard thinks this would be a retrograde step.
After canvassing member sentiment the Secretary reports that the ambiance of the RBL is much preferred for club nights over KSSC, and hopefully we could continue there on Thursday nights with no charge. But what to do about a match venue?? The AGM on April 22nd will be crucial - and everyone is urged to attend in our hour of need. However, despite the crisis and the need for a firm hand on the tiller, both the Chairman and Secretary have tendered their resignation and it will be up to some other poor saps to come in and save the club. (Alright, the letter doesn't phrase it quite like this, but I'm reading between the lines, OK?!)
May 2010 - For some reason the AGM has been delayed by 2 weeks and takes place on May 6th. The tension is palpable - there is a very real possibility that the club will collapse. But the membership have responded to the Secretary's exhortations and turn out in force - 18 present! The meeting agrees (by 14-0 with 3 abstentions) that the Committee will approach the RBL to try and secure a match venue on either Monday or Tuesday nights. Though this will significantly increase our costs. As a consequence the Treasurer proposed that club subs should increase to £60 pa. And this earth-shattering proposal was accepted.
Off the board issues may well have affected the club's performance in the 2009-10 season, as the Chairman reported an almost universally dismal playing record. Our 5 teams had not distinguished themselves - the A and E teams had both finished last; the D team 8th of 10; the C team 7th of 10 (what happened to the previous season's all conquering performance?); and the B team 3rd of 7. Remarkably, though, the club had won the Open KO Cup, beating Stratford in the final. How on earth did that happen?
Its a complete new management board at KCC, since Roy also stands down as Treasurer. The new powers in the land are Bruce (Chairman), Mike Johnson (Secretary) and Chris (Treasurer), while Carl takes over from Phil as A team captain. As well as standing down from their KCC posts it transpires that Bernard and Phil have also had enough of being League Chairman and Secretary respectively.
The AGM ends with the Team Formation Meeting being arranged for September 2nd (but where will it be??), and Bruce makes an unbelievably generous offer to buy dinner for everyone beforehand. Is the current Chairman reading this?! And finally the new Secretary urges everybody in the club to get an e-mail address. Welcome to the 21st century!
May 2011 - And - frustratingly - this is where the available Archives run out. The only other document between the 2010 and 2014 AGM's is a hand written set of accounts for the 2010-11 season. (Which record a loss of £238.58 due to a large expenditure on ten clocks, leaving a balance of just £121.42, but things could have been much worse as we had received a donation of 18 sets and boards to the value of £257.88. As the identity of the donor was not disclosed I shall respect the apparent wish for anonymity, even though I know who it was!)
So this means that there is currently no record to hand of how the venue crisis was resolved. What I do know is that the KCC match night pretty soon became a Monday, and the venue remained at the RBL until 2013. At some point, and possibly immediately, the Thursday club night venue moved to the Royal Oak, which was its location when I first started attending sometime round 2012.
KCC records resume in 2014, but given that I have written them since then, these can hardly count as coming from the archives. Which means that - for now - the journey through KCC's glorious history has ended. But it would be nice to think that the missing three years might be filled in sometime in the future. With Bruce having been Chairman, there's every chance the record keeping was maintained, and so maybe those missing documents will come to light and enable this series to end on a nice round number. But as it is, we are stuck on 19. Which makes the choice of song very easy indeed!
This week saw two big games for the club on successive nights. On Monday, Kenilworth C were in action against Coventry A, in the battle at the top of the Division 2 table. On Tuesday, we followed this by playing Daventry in the semi-final of the CDCL KO, needing a 3-1 victory to make the final.
Monday did not go well. I had inadvertently set us up on the wrong side of the table, which must have been an omen, as we were a little out of sorts. I did not see much of the Board 1 game between Andy Ward and M.M.Latt, but Andy was ultimately edged out to put us 0-1 down. Paul Badger drew an interesting game against Jonathan Fowler on Board 2, which left us needing 1.5 points from the remaining two games to cling on to a draw.
I blame myself for what happened next. On Board 4 against Dave Filer, who I had a 100% record against going into the match, I completely messed up my opening. Not in the sense of being lost, more just lifeless. Twenty-minutes in, to my horror, I realised that my winning prospects were extremely limited - and I was the Kenilworth player who had the biggest rating gap between myself and my opponent. I tried everything, and we ended up in a double rook, double bishop endgame. Eventually I did make a bit of progress, but as has been my wont since Christmas, ran desperately short of time and ultimately had to bail out with a draw. All credit to Dave though, whose improving rating reflects his improving play.
This left Rhys needing to win on Board 3 against Ed Goodwin. Rhys was slightly better for much of the game, and seemed to be winning towards the end. Yet Ed is a canny opponent and ultimately, Rhys's attempts to go all in (and all credit to him for this as we desperately needed a win) backfired and we ended up going down 1-3.
Disappointing as Coventry now close the gap on us at the top of the table, but plenty of games remain. We have a chance to put things right in the return match in a couple of weeks. It's still all to play for!
So, to Tuesday... I had to drop my other half off on the way to the game. I made the mistake of pointing out that this meant driving via a different route and not being able to follow my normal pre-match routine. As she observed, my previous routine hadn't been all that hot in terms of my results, so maybe this was for the best!
At least on Tuesday I set us up on the correct side of the table, which felt like a better start. Albeit the very fact that Daventry showed up meant that we were in for a tougher night than in the last round against Nuneaton, when we drove to their place but they did not.
Daventry has had a terrific season in Division 2, and while on paper we looked quite a lot stronger, we knew we could not be complacent. Particularly as the handicap system meant they only needed 1.5 on the night to go through.
Having instructed everyone to on no account take early draws, I was momentarily inwardly horrified to see Mike shaking hands with Andy Johnson ten minutes into their Board 2 encounter. It transpired Andy had gone wrong (we've all been there) and Mike had put us 1-0 up. I'm guessing that might well be his quickest ever CDCL victory? A great start to the proceedings!
A couple of hours later, Keatan was next to finish on Board 1 against Harvey Monroe. Keatan always looked in control and his class showed, but credit to Harvey for putting up a good fight.
That left Paul against James Brown (Daventry's new junior) on 3 and me against Abbie Stevens on four. Paul was level, I was winning, but the clocks in both games were a mirror image of each other. We were both running low... [How I keep getting into time trouble when I spend so much of my life playing online Blitz, is a question I really do need to reflect on!]
After the debacle of the previous night, I played a more aggressive opening line than I normally would against Abbie's 1. g6. I took a lot of space, got very active and then struggled to find a breakthrough (hence burning through so much time.) This again has been a feature of my games of late, in that I have frequently been in the better position but not able to close things out. However, ultimately Abbie's entombed light square bishop, weak e6 pawn and opportunities to get at her King started to tell. Despite a really robust defence, I finally picked up a piece, forced the queens off and gave myself an ending that was both routine and more than capable of being executed while under 3 minutes. All credit to Abbie though, as she played very well and they are always good games.
Fortunately my win meant that we were over the line, and Paul's game was a dead rubber. Which was probably just as well. It sounds obvious, but chess is a very hard game to play with no time! Paul missed a drawing resource and James did not need a second invitation to put Daventry on the board. I am sure James has a very bright future ahead of him.
So 3-1 on the night. We'll be up against Rugby in the final! I was quite down after Monday, but perspective is important. All is not lost in the Division 2 battle, and we have a chance for some silverware in the CDCL! The final will be played at a neutral venue, so who knows which side of the table we will be sitting on. Either way, it will be a night to look forward to!
Hmm. I'll have to think about that, but on the evidence of last night's Coventry League defeat to Warwick University A, the answer is not as straightforward/obvious as I have always thought.
This was quite possibly a title-decider, as prior to last night we trailed the University by 1 point, with a match in hand - and a better game points difference. In losing 1-3, we now find ourselves 3 points behind with a game in hand - and an inferior game points difference! With the University having only 1 game to play, the chances of any slip-ups on their part are low to zero, so it looks like we have managed to blow the healthy lead we built up before Christmas, when we had a 100% record. But then, of course, I returned to the team....
It was a very close match last night, with all boards being very tough struggles, but in the end we were just pot-muscled. Keatan finished first on Board 1, after a valiant attempt to overcome a rather disastrous opening, which left him a pawn down and with doubled isolated c pawns to boot. He fought hard in a rook and same coloured bishop ending against the University's WFM, but there was a sense of inevitability about the result for most of the night. Surprisingly, I finished next and succeeded in equalising the match score after a second win in a row. Maybe my mojo is back?! I didn't play a great game against my opponent from Kazakhstan, but after scoring just 0.5/2 against him last season, a win was not to be sniffed at. I was on the back foot after a slightly insipid opening (with White!), but Black got a bit carried away and sacked a piece for a couple of pawns to expose my king. However, I had virtually my whole army defending it, and the attack was repulsed relatively easily, with me quickly taking over the initiative and the game was over (when my opponent had around 5 seconds on his clock) just as I was about to deliver mate.
Paul seemed to have established a drawn rook and knight ending against Tom Brown on Board 4, but unfortunately a loose pawn fell off. The rooks were then exchanged and it came down to knight and 3 v knight and 2, but with all pawns on the kingside. It looked a dead draw to me, as Black had no passed pawns and I assumed at some point that all but one of the pawns would be swapped off and Paul's knight would sacrifice itself for the last remaining Black foot soldier. However, he went on a strange king advance up the queenside which left his forces split, and an unfortunate knight check forced the minor pieces off to leave an easily winning king and pawn ending for Tom.
So it all came down to Mike's game on Board 3. |It was very exciting in the middle game, with both players on the attack against slightly weak kings, but by the time I came to focus on the game it was rook, bishop and 2 against Mike's rook, knight and one. But it soon became a two pawn advantage, and White unfortunately knew not to swap the minor pieces off as Rook + f and h pawns v rook is a theoretical draw, despite two extra pawns for the attacking side. (And for those who don't believe me, take a look at the 2023 British Championship game between Jude and Jacob Connor Boswell which reached this very conclusion.) But then Mike lost his knight to a pin anyway, and despite a serious time issue and some slight dangers of delivering stalemate, White was able to make the extra material count decisively.
So, back to my original question. I used to pontificate from my moral high horse that if your own result was more important than the team's result, you were probably playing for the wrong team. But now that I have been through a period when I thought I might never play, let alone win, another game of chess, I don't feel as though I am standing on such firm ground. I felt distinctly chipper (great word!) after winning last night, and the fact that the league title disappeared out the door with our match loss didn't upset me as much as it should. If at all. Sorry about that, but sometimes you've just got to own up to your own selfishness.
I'm in the mood for some good music, and as I've recently seen the excellent new Bob Dylan bio-pic A Complete Unknown, how about one of those early masterpieces from the only rocker ever to win a Nobel prize?
It was a disappointing night for the D team on Monday, at home against Rugby A, so we will keep this report brief.
We were delighted to welcome Paul back from his travels. I did not see much of his game against the very strong Paul Colburn on Board 1, but sadly it did not go our way. On Boards 2 and 4, Rhys and Bernard played out the opposite side of near mirror image positions. Bernard had two knights and an extra pawn vs two bishops. In his game, Rhys had the bishops against the knights, but was down a pawn.
Unfortunately Rhys got edged out against Mark Gilbert to make it 0-2. Meanwhile, Bernard's opponent James Peel deserves a lot of credit for an impressive game, as he generated enough counterplay to hold the draw.
My game against Dave Riley was not one to write home about. I outplayed him and we entered a heavy piece endgame which looked crushing for me. Unfortunately, I have been getting into time trouble a lot lately and went wrong. Right at the death, with 20 seconds on my clock, I took a perpetual - missing a move that would have been overwhelming. I only have myself to blame, although it would not have changed the match result. So 1-3 on the night.
Completely unrelated to Monday's debacle, but perhaps highlighting what a mystery chess is, last night I drew an excellent game for Shirley against CM Keith Duncan (2066). The best I have played in a long time. I'm yet to Fritz it to see how much of a chicken I was in taking the draw, but we were down to two minutes each and I couldn't see a clean kill. Given my clock prowess the previous night, discretion felt like the better part of valour!
Kenilworth has some very important games coming up, and I resolve to play more like I did on Tuesday than on Monday. If only it were that simple!
“I love Liverpool, the city. It’s actually great, I had a great time. God, it’s changed. The whole river front has changed and there’s loads of nice tapas restaurants. We found this amazing Chinese restaurant, too, which was right by where I was living, which was great.”
Samuel L Jackson
Well that's a recommendation and a half from a famous movie star. This summer, Liverpool is also going to have a bit of chess on offer, as the British Championships are in town. Check out the link for full details.
https://www.britishchesschampionships.co.uk/
Essentially proceedings will run from the 31st July to the 10th August, and there are stacks of tournaments at various speeds and durations. In addition to a host of opportunities to play in simuls and the like. I'm going to be competing in the over-50s (even though for the record I'm not quite 50 yet!), a morning weekday event, and a couple of Blitz tournaments, so will be there for most of it.
In recent years we've had lots of Kenilworth players at the British. I well remember some very good times and nice team meals in Torquay. Do think about playing if you can, and let me know if you are going to be about. I'd be delighted to fix up a club social for those of us who are on the road!
These are links to a BBC and Liverpool Echo article which also give a few more details: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy08p1e50q8o
Just to also state, I will be wearing a Manchester United badge on the inside of my lapel at all times, where it can't be seen. Thus making a point while avoiding the risk of getting beaten up, or more likely being laughed at.
Such is the strength and depth at Kenilworth these days, that it is practically a FIDE law that no international event should go ahead, without a minimum of four Kenilworth players in the field. Fortunately for the organisers, myself, Bruce, Steph and Patrick were all available for today's Birmingham International Blitz.
The start of the day was a little random. I spent a while stood outside a locked gate with a gaggle of other players, as we weighed up what to do. Fortunately, someone vaguely practical amongst us suggested that we should try and go round the back. We did, and found ourselves in the venue! Things were still a bit unorthodox, as the organiser was probably the last person to arrive, but we soon got down to the fastest eleven round blitz (3 and 2) event I have ever participated in. Bar one 5 minute break, we literally played back to back. Having started at 10.30, we were done before 1.00.
As a collective, we did really well! Bruce came 2nd with 9/11. I was 4th with 7/11. Patrick 5th with 6.5 and Steph was 8th with 5.5. (Before any bright spark asks the question, there were 19 players in the field.) We also had a bit of blue on blue along the way. Bruce won a good game against me and also beat Patrick. Steph and Patrick drew. I think we definitely would have given the spectators their money's worth, had there been any.
The tournament was won by IM Mahadevan Siva with 11/11. He actually played all four of the Kenilworth contingent. Mahadevan told me afterwards that each of the games against Kenilworth players had pushed him to the outer-limits of his chess knowledge. OK he did not really say this, but we can but dream that this is what he was thinking!
So a fun (half) day out, and a good showing by the Kenilworth crew. If we carry on like this, FIDE will probably insist on even more of us being present at events like these!
I still remember a Spring evening at the Leamington tennis club, back in 2024. On that night, the C team needed to beat Leamington to win an astonishing promotion to Division 1. I did not make the team, but watched on avidly as a gripping battle ensued. Ultimately it was not to be, and we missed out. For all the pride we had in what was a really good season, there was also a sense that such opportunities are rare. We did not know when we would get another chance.
Incredibly, this season of all seasons, the chase is back on. We might have lost players, and be continually juggling our selections, but whatever we are doing is working. Following last night's win against Olton, we are four points clear at the top of the table. With our heroic D team still in second! The truth is, it is still all to play for, as Coventry A are also four points back and have a game in hand. Our next two matches are against them, and they are going to prove crucial.
Last night, Harry chalked up a very helpful and relatively quick draw against Andrew Cottom to get us on the board. Harry has been juggling a lot of commitments as well as the B team captaincy and I hugely appreciated him playing - thank you Harry!
The other three games went deep into the night. I didn't see much of Andy's game, but he led the way with a brilliant win on Board 1 against Mike Hollier. Andy told me afterwards that if anything he had been worse out of the opening, but found a way to rearrange his pieces and to get active. Good things clearly followed! So 1.5 - 0.5.
With 5 minutes of the evening to go, I had turned down various draw offers from Roger Threlfall on Board 3, just as Dan our C team debutant had against Julian Camino-Sanchez on Board 4. As I said to Dan, I didn't even have to look at his position to know that he was winning, I could hear it in their respective voices. It looked like a very professional grind on Dan's part and an excellent contribution. It just shows our strength in depth that we were able to call on Dan when we needed him, and he really delivered!
My own game falls into the somewhat frustrating category. I was better throughout and nobody could say that I didn't give it fricking everything to win, but all credit to Roger. After most likely various repetitions and with us both below a minute on our clocks, we agreed to split the point. That's the third white in a row where I have been better, but had to settle for a draw. Still, it didn't matter and we left with a comfortable 3-1 win.
So onwards! Who knows if we can do this or not, but we should all be really proud of what we have done to date. We are definitely going to give this a good go!
It's been a rather uncharacteristically subdued effort from the A team so far this campaign, highlighted of course by two chastening results against our own B team - the chief common denominator of these two results being the presence of me in both matches with disastrous consequences. As a result of these mishaps, we were lagging a bit off the pace at the top of Division 1, a point behind Solihull A and two points adrift of league leaders Banbury A. This meant that our trip to Banbury on Thursday was one we simply could not afford to lose - and which we really needed to win. Could our recently all conquering team rediscover its mojo and put itself back in the title race? You bet we could!!
Banbury were clearly treating the game seriously, as they - almost invariably when we are the opponents - got IM James Jackson to make one of his infrequent appearances, and packed the team with 2000+ players. But thankfully two teams can play at that game, so while we can't yet field an IM, we were also able to field a team that, on paper, looked more than equipped to give them a run for their money. I say on paper, since while Andrew and myself have been quite respectable Board 1s for the club in seasons not too long past , our recent form was pretty discouraging. Indeed, having me in the team, even on Board 4, could have been seen as tantamount to a default, given my record of 0/3 this season, and no win since last May. But who knows - maybe the old magic could make a timely reappearance to back up the very strong presence of Jude and Javier on the top two boards? Anyway, all was set for a meaty encounter.
Given my recent efforts, I didn't spend much time spectating the other boards, but what I did see had me moderately encouraged for most of the evening. Jude and James Jackson had a real heavyweight clash on top board, which I am clearly not remotely qualified to assess. Jude went for the jugular and sacrificed a pawn right out of the opening, getting lots of compensation against Black's fractured pawn structure. But James is not an IM for nothing, and somehow held his position together while gradually extricating himself from passivity. I missed the end, but the IM prevailed and it was 1-0 to the home side. But fear not, as things were not going at all badly on the other three boards.
I was next to finish, my game against Tom Day ending in bizarre fashion when he played the move Qxa5 (a pawn) only to resign instantly as he realised that the pawn was defended by my queen. I was two passed pawns up at the time, so I was winning anyway, but with a queen and rook each and time trouble very firmly on the agenda, there was still every chance I would manage to screw things up, so this was a very welcome development.
By this time Andrew had won an exchange for a pawn against Sean Gordon on Board 3, after playing what I thought was a splendidly controlled opening and middle game. But the ending of rook v knight proved to be very difficult. The White rook simply couldn't get in behind the Black pawns and for all the world it looked as though Black had established a fortress. But as Magnus famously told us, you shouldn't always believe in fortresses. managing to avoid any treacherous knight forks, despite being well under a minute on the clock (as were both players) Andrew somehow magicked a position where he was able to give back the exchange to set up a winning king and pawn ending. 2-1 to us, and both the recent basket cases had managed to win!
Which left Javi on Board 2 against Georgs Vikanis. Javi seemed to play an excellent game against some rather unorthodox opening play by Georgs, and by the time my game had finished he had a clearly advantageous position with two rooks and same colour bishops each. But whereas Javi had most of the board to play in, Georgs was stuck on the back two ranks with his bishop looking particularly woeful behind a wall of its own colour pawns. But all the same, I couldn't see how Javi was going to engineer a breakthrough - especially as he had well under a minute on the clock. And was continuing to write down the moves as well!! But he showed great determination and imagination to set up a position where he was able to sac his bishop for a pawn - and it couldn't be taken due to a back rank mate which had appeared from nowhere. This proved a decisive breakthrough, and after some more accurate play (during which he finally stopped recording the moves!) he then started collecting White's queenside pawns as well to force an excellent win, and clinch the match 3-1.
This was a terrific team performance and it returned us to the top of the table - albeit only on game points - and is hopefully a sign that the big red Kenilworth mean machine is finally back in full working order. And it will need to be, as things are very close in the battle for the title, which looks set to be a three way fight for the rest of the season. And things are very close at the bottom of the table too, with just two points covering the other 5 clubs. So the B team could do with getting its collective finger out and winning a game or two to ensure safety. It would be a complete disaster if the administrative cock-up which turned a 3.5-0.5 win over Shirley A into a 0-4 defeat proved decisive.
Hope you like the choice of music to celebrate this important Kenilworth A victory. Not one of my all time favourites, but a pleasant enough little ditty by one of England's under-rated musical giants. And hopefully an apt sentiment for the rest of the season.
I know you're feeling me 'cause you like it like this."
Kylie Minogue
Mark often likes to make musical references in his posts, and I am sure he would heartly approve of a bit of Kylie. Either way, when Kenilworth C played Kenilworth D last week, it seemed like the only appropriate song.
I had started the season as D team captain, but was now C team captain, yet was playing for the D team. Harry had been C team captain before moving up to be B team captain, and was lining up for the Cs. Bernard who had always been in the D team was now the D team skipper. We had agreed in advance that I would sort both teams and we ended up with strong line-ups, all be it with the forementioned musical chairs.
These matches have been close in the past, but not last week. On Board 1 Dave and Dhairya played out the most interesting game of the night. The endgame went to the wire, where Dave's experience ultimately told, but it was still another good effort on Dhairya's part.
I made a Horlicks of Board 2 against Michal - getting the opening all wrong and lost heavily. I didn't see much of Bernard's game on Board 3 against Harry, but Bernard spared the D team's blushes by holding the draw and avoiding the whitewash. On Board 4 Rhys seemed to march his pawns up the board in a very nice line against Dylan, to bring the C team home with a 3.5 - 0.5 victory.
It was hard to know who to route for, and I'm sure many others felt the same, given the number of us who play for both teams. Absolutely a case of spinning around!
Then last night the D team were back in action against Banbury B, where we managed a 2-2 draw. On the one hand, we are higher up the table than them. On the other, with Paul and Rhys unavailable we weren't at full strength. It still amazes me that our depth as a club means our D team can still play Banbury B on even terms, but this was by no means the first time that we've got something from games against Banbury.
It was lovely to see Carl Portman back in action for Banbury on Board 1 against Dhairya. In some ways this game had echoes of Dhairya's game against Dave Ireland the previous week, in that it was very very tight. This time though, Dhairya's defences were rock solid and he held the draw.
I also drew on Board 2 against Nathan Manley. I had slightly the better of it, but we both ran short of time (especially me) and chickened out. Analysing afterwards, most lines led to a draw. I might perhaps have been braver a little earlier in the proceedings, but it felt like a fair result.
On Board 4, Nick Martin seemed to drag Dylan's king into the middle of the board straight out of the opening. I don't know how this came about, but I expected Dylan to lose very quickly. To his credit, he survived the middle game, but ended up material down in an endgame, which made it 2-1 Banbury.
So all eyes were on Bernard. Having not been happy with his play and performances before Christmas, Bernard is playing like a new man in 2025! He followed up his excellent effort in the D v C match by beating Mal Waddell in brilliant fashion. The game was wildly complicated and it looked like Mal was winning, when Bernard unleashed a series of tactical blows (that he had calculated more accurately than this spectator!) Fritz showed that Mal potentially did have a defence but it was a very difficult one for a human to find, and Bernard brought home the victory in glorious style to secure us a useful point.
So two very interesting matches. Lots more to play for, given the C team are top of the table and the D team are in third. Picking our teams can be challenging, but we'll keep things spinning, and hopefully the C team will maintain our title challenge in the weeks ahead.
